Jump to content

Off the Ground

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 207.45.249.142 (talk) at 16:27, 8 May 2012 (→‎Recording and structure). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Chicago Tribune(Favourable)[2]
Entertainment Weekly (C-) [3]
Houston Chronicle[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
The New York Times(Favourable)[6]
Rolling Stone[7]

Off the Ground is the ninth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, released in 1993. As his first studio album of the 1990s, it is also the follow-up to the acclaimed Flowers in the Dirt (1989).

Recording and structure

Buoyed by the critical success of his 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt and the subsequent Paul McCartney World Tour in 1989 and 1990, it seemed a natural extension to record his next album with his existing touring band. Only one change was made to the line-up, with Blair Cunningham joining on drums to replace Chris Whitten. To add to the band's success in the live arena, McCartney decided to record the album "live in the studio", meaning that the band would rehearse the entire song together and then record the song together in one take, instead of recording each vocal track and instrumental track separately. This approach gave a new, raw and direct feel to the work, but was not overly liked by critics. The compositions also seemed less complex than on Flowers in the Dirt, with some of them having been out-takes from the earlier album. "Mistress and Maid" and "The Lovers That Never Were", which emerged from McCartney's songwriting collaboration with Elvis Costello, made their appearance on this album. Unlike Flowers in the Dirt, however, Costello did not appear on Off the Ground.

McCartney's increased interest in social issues came to prominence on this album, be it the scathing anti-animal cruelty rocker "Looking for Changes" (McCartney and his wife Linda long-time vegetarians by this time) or paeans for a better world ("Hope of Deliverance" and "C'Mon People"). The B-side Big Boys Bickering lambasted politicians, with the phrase "Big boys bickering, f***ing it up for everyone" showing a more aggressive side to McCartney.

Release

The lead single, "Hope of Deliverance", was released in the last week of December 1992 and the album followed in February 1993. While Off the Ground hit #5 in the UK and reached #17 in the US, where it eventually went gold, it was the first Paul McCartney album to not contain a sizeable US hit single since Wings' Wild Life in 1971. While "Hope of Deliverance" floundered there, it managed to reach #18 in the UK, where "C'Mon People" became a minor hit as well. The album spent only six weeks inside the Top 100 in the UK, eventually reaching #5 there. In Germany, the album was particularly successful and certified platinum with "Hope of Deliverance" reaching #3 on the singles chart and the album spending four weeks at #2.

Some weeks after its release, McCartney launched "The New World Tour", taking in many successful shows across the globe during the summer months. These gigs were documented on the album Paul Is Live, which followed at the end of 1993.

Although generally considered a slightly weaker successor to Flowers in the Dirt and now somewhat overlooked, Off the Ground is prized by many McCartney followers.

The feet on the album cover are actually of McCartney, his wife Linda and his touring band.

Track listing

All songs composed and written by Paul McCartney, except "Mistress and Maid" and "The Lovers That Never Were" co-written by Declan MacManus.

  1. "Off the Ground" – 3:40
  2. "Looking for Changes" – 2:47
  3. "Hope of Deliverance" – 3:22
  4. "Mistress and Maid" – 3:00
  5. "I Owe It All to You" – 4:51
  6. "Biker Like an Icon" – 3:26
  7. "Peace in the Neighbourhood" – 5:06
  8. "Golden Earth Girl" – 3:45
  9. "The Lovers That Never Were" – 3:43
  10. "Get Out of My Way" – 3:32
  11. "Winedark Open Sea" – 5:27
  12. "C'Mon People" – 7:42
    • Followed by a hidden excerpt of an unlisted song called "Cosmically Conscious", originally written by McCartney in 1968 during The Beatles' stay in Rishikesh.

Off the Ground: The Complete Works

Off the Ground: The Complete Works is a two-disc set released in Japan and the Netherlands. This edition included McCartney's rare use of swear words in the song "Big Boys Bickering", a protest song. Other notable songs on this edition are "Long Leather Coat" and "I Can't Imagine".

Track listing of CD2

  1. "Long Leather Coat" (McCartney/McCartney)
  2. "Keep Coming Back to Love" (McCartney/Stuart)
  3. "Sweet Sweet Memories"
  4. "Things We Said Today" (Lennon–McCartney)
  5. "Midnight Special" (Arranged by "Lead Belly" Ledbetter/Alan Lomax)
  6. "Style Style"
  7. "I Can't Imagine"
  8. "Cosmically Conscious" - 4:39
  9. "Kicked Around No More"
  10. "Big Boys Bickering"
  11. "Down to the River"
  12. "Soggy Noodle"

Even though the album is called the "complete works", it is missing two B-sides and three promo remixes. Those tracks are "Deliverance" and "Deliverance (Dub Mix)", dance-oriented reworkings of the song "Hope of Deliverance", released as B-sides of the "C'mon People" CD single #1, and the three promo remixes of "Off the Ground" released to American radio, namely the Bob Clearmountain remix, the Keith Cohen remix, and the Keith Cohen AC remix.

Also, when the iTunes store added his catalog of music in 2007, they included "I Can't Imagine" as an exclusive bonus track on the album.

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Austria (IFPI Austria)[27] Gold 25,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[28] Gold 50,000^
France (SNEP)[30] Gold 167,400[29]
Germany (BVMI)[31] Platinum 500,000^
Japan (Oricon Charts) — 92,000[26][32]
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[33] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[35] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Off the Ground at AllMusic
  2. ^ Kot, Greg (5 February 1993). "PMccartney Back On Top Of His Pop Material". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  3. ^ Altman, Billy (12 February 1993). "Off the Ground Review". ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  4. ^ Racine, Martin (9 February 1993). "Nice & friendly/Mushy Paul McCartney finally gets off the ground and Wings it". Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  5. ^ Hochman, Steve (7 February 1993). "Paul McCartney - "Off the Ground" (Capitol)". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 October 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Kozinn, Allan (14 February 1993). "RECORDINGS VIEW; Paul McCartney Reaches for Past Glory". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 31 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Puterbaugh, Parke (18 February 1993). "Off the Ground by Paul McCartney". Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2008Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 16 April 2009 suggested (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  8. ^ "australian-charts.com Paul McCartney - Off The Ground". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Paul McCartney - Off The Ground - austriancharts.at". Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  10. ^ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-10-29
  11. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Paul McCartney - Off The Ground". dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  12. ^ a b Billboard - 13 March 1993. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  13. ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  14. ^ musicline.de chartverfolgung "McCartney, Paul - Off The Ground". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 31 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  15. ^ "Hungarian Albums Chart". Mahasz.hu. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  16. ^ a b "Hit Parade Italia - Gli album più venduti del 1993" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  17. ^ ポール・マッカートニー-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Off the Ground by Paul McCartney". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 31 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "charts.org.nz Paul McCartney - Off The Ground". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  19. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Paul McCartney - Off The Ground". Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  20. ^ "swedishcharts.com Paul McCartney - Off The Ground". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  21. ^ "Paul McCartney - Off The Ground - hitparade.ch". Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  22. ^ "Paul McCartney UK Album Chart listings". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 1 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "allmusic ((( Flowers in the Dirt > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  24. ^ "Austriancharts.st - Jahreshitparade 1982". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  25. ^ "Les Albums (CD) de 1993 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  26. ^ a b Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  27. ^ "Austrian album certifications – Paul McCartney – Off the Ground" (in German). IFPI Austria.
  28. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Paul McCartney – Off the Ground". Music Canada.
  29. ^ "Les Albums Or". infodisc.fr. SNEP. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  30. ^ "French album certifications – Paul McCartney – Off the Ground" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  31. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Paul McCartney; 'Off the Ground')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  32. ^ a-ビートルズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - The Beatles" (in Japanese). 30 December 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  33. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Off the Ground')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  34. ^ "British album certifications – Paul McCartney – Off the Ground". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Off the Ground in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  35. ^ "American album certifications – Paul McCartney – Off the Ground". Recording Industry Association of America.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Off_the_Ground&oldid=491409236"